Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader
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Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader
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Overview
What did the American people and the US government know about the threats posed by Nazi Germany? What could have been done to stop the rise of Nazism in Germany and its assault on Europe’s Jews? Americans and the Holocaust explores these enduring questions by gathering together more than one hundred primary sources that reveal how Americans debated their responsibility to respond to Nazism. Drawing on groundbreaking research conducted for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Americans and the Holocaust exhibition, these carefully chosen sources help readers understand how Americans’ responses to Nazism were shaped by the challenging circumstances in the United States during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including profound economic crisis, fear of communism, pervasive antisemitism and racism, and widespread isolationism. Collecting newspaper and magazine articles, popular culture materials, and government records, Americans and the Holocaust is a valuable resource for students and historians seeking to shed light on this dark era in world history.To explore further, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's digital exhibit, available here: https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaustPublished in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781978821682 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Rutgers University Press |
| Publication date: | 11/30/2021 |
| Pages: | 265 |
| Sales rank: | 392,075 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
| Age Range: | 16 - 18 Years |
About the Author
DANIEL GREENE is President and Librarian at the Newberry Library and an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University. He curated Americans and the Holocaust, an exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. EDWARD J. PHILLIPS joined the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 and directed its exhibitions program from 2008 until his retirement in 2018. He contributed to nearly fifty exhibition projects, including Americans and the Holocaust, the basis for this reader.
Read an Excerpt
On March 8, 1923, the Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper made its first mention of the “Bavaria Fascisti Chief” Adolf Hitler. Reporter Raymond Fendrick of the paper’s Foreign News Service noted three particulars about Hitler: his fervent antisemitism, especially his admiration for the antisemitic American automaker Henry “Heinrich” Ford; his 6,000-man force of militarist “shock troops”; and his rising reputation as an outspoken nationalist. But for most of the remaining 1920s, Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) German Workers’ Party remained on the fringes of German politics, and American press coverage about them was at best sporadic. Only during the early 1930s, as the Great Depression ravaged the world’s industrial nations, did some Americans begin to pay attention to the meteoric rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany and to ask questions about its possible significance.
Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader includes a sampling of the information available to Americans about the Nazi persecution and murder of European Jews between 1933 and 1945. Presented in relatively strict chronological order, the selections intend to prompt readers to consider three essential questions in confronting this history: What did Americans know?” “When did they know it?” “What did they do with that knowledge? We urge readers to continually push against hindsight from their 21st-century knowledge about the Holocaust. We seek to show the ways the US government and American people responded to Nazism by wrestling with the rationales behind their actions and inactions in the context of the moment, which was defined by economic crisis, fear of communism, and widespread views that were isolationist, antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and racist.
These sources also help to overturn the incorrect but commonly held assumption that Americans had little access to information about Nazism during the 1930s and 1940s. Even if it was not always front-page news, information about discrimination against Jews was available to the US government as well as the American public. But the contemporary responses to this information show that the real threats of Nazism and the murderous nature of the regime towards Jews were not comprehended. The relatively wide gap between information and understanding—an essential theme here—directly influenced how Americans responded to Nazi Germany and, eventually, to its annihilation of six million European Jews.
A second animating theme at the heart of this book is the gap between many Americans’ disapproval of the Nazi regime’s treatment of Jews and a will to action among the American people and within the US government to help Jewish victims. The sources included here reveal actions both taken and not taken, especially as some Americans debated whether to provide refuge for those persecuted by the Nazi regime. In doing so, we challenge overly simple, inaccurate statements such as: Americans didn’t do anything to respond to Nazism while also raising an additional critical question: What more could have been done?
Focusing on action and inaction opens this narrative to include many actors—governmental leaders and elected officials, faith leaders, grassroots organizations, culture makers, journalists, “ordinary” people—who faced critical choices about when and how to act, or not to act, in response to Nazism during the 1930s and 1940s. Reading sources that capture these multiple and diverse voices within the context of their times advances our understanding of the range of Americans’ responses to Nazism.
Table of Contents
Foreword xiii
Preface xv
Note on Sources xix
Abbreviations xxi
Timeline xxiii
Prologue. Two Nations, 1918-1932 1
Adolf Hitler: Bavaria's Rebel 8
1 Cyril Brown, "New Popular Idol Rises in Bavaria," New York Times, November 21, 1922 9
2 Raymond Fendrick, "'Heinrich' Ford Idol of Bavaria Fascisti Chief," Chicago Daily Tribune, March 8, 1923 11
Chapter 1 Fear Itself, 1933-1938 14
Illustration: Paolo Garretto, Hitler, 1932
1 "A Week's Vignettes of Nazi-Land," News-Week, March 25, 1933 16
2 Foreign News, Germany, "WE DEMAND!" Time, July 10, 1933 20
Protesting the Nazi Dictatorship 21
3 "Wise Explains Jewry's Pleas to Garden Crowd," New York Herald Tribune, March 28, 1933 21
4 Associated Press, "Mistreatment of Jewish Race in Germany Ends," Bangor (ME) Daily News, March 27, 1933 24
5 United Churches of Lackawanna County (PA), petition to Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, March 27, 1933 26
6 United Press, "Nazis Start Jewish Boycott" and Associated Press, "Courts Are Cleared, Santa Cruz (CA) News, March 31, 1933 27
7 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Germany Is Too Easy on Jews, Goebbels Asks Stronger Attack," Jewish Daily Bulletin, April 26, 1933 29
8 Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, "Memorandum of Conversation between Secretary Hull and the German Ambassador, Dr. Hans Luther," May 3, 1933 30
9 Associated Press, "German Students Burn Books of Noted American Authors," (Boise) Idaho Daily Statesman, May 11, 1933 32
10 American League for the Defense of Jewish Rights, "Resolution Adopted at the [National Boycott] Conference," June 27, 1933 33
Americans Assaulted in Germany 34
11 Associated Press, "Nazi Attacks on Americans," New York Times, October 13, 1933 35
12 Sigrid Schultz, "Hitler Assures Dodd Yanks Will Get Protection," Chicago Daily Tribune, October 18, 1933 36
Germany's Jews in Danger 38
13 Foreign News, Germany, "Little Man, Big Doings," Time, September 23, 1935 38
14 President Franklin D. Roosevelt to New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman regarding the immigration of German Jews into the United States. November 13, 1935 40
Boycott the Olympics? 42
15 Avery Brundage, President, American Olympic Committee, Preface to Fair Play for American Athletes, October 1935 43
16 Heywood Broun, "The Olympics Merely an Opportunity for Hitler to Glorify Himself a Bit," Morning Post (Camden, NJ), October 28, 1935 44
17 "The 1936 Olympic Games: An Open Letter," New York Amsterdam News, August 24, 1935 46
Nazis in America 48
18 Joseph F. Dinneen, "An American Fuhrer Organizes an Army," American Magazine, August 1937 48
Chapter 2 Desperate Times, Limited Measures, 1938-1941 54
Illustration: Herblock [Herbert L. Block], "Still No Solution," 1939
The Refugee Crisis 56
1 Associated Press, "Hitler Enters Vienna as Jews Begin to Feel Weight of Persecution," Public Opinion (Chambersburg, PA), March 14, 1938 56
2 Dorothy Thompson, excerpts from Refugees: Anarchy or Organization? 1938 58
Sympathy without Action 62
3 Department of State call for international special committee on emigration aid for political refugees, March 24, 1938 63
4 Gerald G. Gross, "'Yes, But-' Attitude Perils Progress at World Refugee Conference." Washington Post, July 10, 1938 64
5 Foreign News, International, "Refugees," Time, July 18, 1938 66
In Search of Refuge: Teenage Pen Pals 68
6 Marianne Winter, letters to Jane Bomberger, June 6 and 29, 1938 68
7 "'Hands Across Sea' Are Joined." Reading (PA) Eagle, February 5, 1939 70
November Pogrom 71
8 United Press, "Hysterical Nazis Wreck Thousands of Jewish Shops, Burn Synagogues in Wild Orgy of Looting and Terror," Dallas Morning News, November 11, 1938 71
9 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, draft press statement following Kristallnacht, November 16, 1938 75
10 Associated Press, "Treatment of Jews 'Shocks U.S.'," The Daily Missoulian (Missoula, MT), November 16, 1938 76
11 Gallup Polls on Nazi treatment of Jews and immigration of Jewish exiles to the United States, November 1938 77
Admit Refugee Children? 77
12 John F. Knott, "'Please, Ring the Bell for Us,'" Dallas Morning News, July 7, 1939 78
13 Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children, "Suffer Little Children …" April 1939 79
14 John Cecil, American Immigration Conference Board, America's Children Are America's Problem! Refugee Children in Europe Are Europe's Problem! 1939 80
15 Clarence E. Pickett and Robert R. Reynolds, 'America: Haven for Refugee Children?" The Rotarian, February 1940 83
A Refugee Ship at Sea 85
16 Fred Packer, "Ashamed!" New York Daily Mirror, June 6, 1939 85
17 "Refugee Ship," New York Times, June 8, 1939 86
18 St. Louis Passengers' Committee, draft telegram to American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York City, June 1939 88
19 Associated Press, "Refugee Ship Is at Antwerp," Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, June 18, 1939 88
Americans Who Dared 90
20 Associated Press, "50 Jewish Refugee Tots are Happy in New Home," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 1939 91
21 Martha Sharp, Unitarian Service Committee, "Memorandum: Emigration from France to the United States of America," November 26. 1940 92
22 Varian Fry, Emergency Rescue Committee, foreword to Surrender on Demand, 1945 95
23 Marjorie McClelland, American Friends Services Committee, letter to family July 15, 1941 97
Chapter 3 Storm Clouds Gather, 1939-1941 100
Illustration: Elmer, "War's First Casualty," 1941
1 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "War in Europe" fireside chat, September 3, 1939 102
The Foreign War and the National Defense 104
2 Confessions of a Nazi Spy motion picture advertisement, 1939 105
3 J. Edgar Hoover with Courtney Ryley Cooper, "Stamping Out the Spies," American Magazine, January 1940 105
4 Fortune/Roper Survey on a German "Fifth Column." June 1940 107
5 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "National Defense" fireside chat, May 26, 1940 108
6 Gallup Poll on US involvement in war against Germany, May 1940 111
"A Wall of Bureaucratic Measures" 111
7 Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State, memorandum on limiting immigration, June 26, 1940 112
8 Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, telegram to all diplomatic and consular offices, June 29, 1940 113
9 Albert Einstein, letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, July 26, 1941 114
The Nazi War on Europe's Jews 115
10 Associated Press/Alvin J. Steinkopf, "A Walled Ghetto, Ruin Everywhere, Is What Writer Finds in Warsaw," Minneapolis Tribune, October 13, 1940 115
11 United Press, "Nazis Decree Jews Must Wear Badge," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 1941 118
12 United Press/Jack Fleisher, "Germans Crowding Millions of Eastern European Jews Into Ghettos," San Bernardino (CA) Daily Sun, November 8, 1941 119
Intervention or Isolation? 120
13 Fight for Freedom Committee, "To the President of the United States," 1941 121
14 Fight for Freedom Committee, "Wanted for Murder: Adolf Schicklgruber Alias Hitler," 1941 122
15 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Maintaining Freedom of the Seas" fireside chat, September 11, 1941 123
16 Charles A. Lindbergh, "Who Are the War Agitators?" speech delivered in Des Moines, Iowa, September 11, 1941 126
17 Charles A. Lindbergh, diary excerpts, September-December 1941 130
18 "Principles of America First Committee," America First Bulletin, November 22, 1941 131
19 America First Committee, promotional buttons and stickers, ca. 1941 132
20 Dr. Seuss [Theodor S. Geisel], "… and the wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones …" PM (New York, NY), October 1, 1941 133
21 Arthur Szyk, "A Madman's Dream," American Mercury, November 1941 134
Hitler in American Popular Culture 135
22 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America, Marvel Comics, March 1, 1941 135
23 "Hotzi Notzi" Hitler caricature pin cushion, 1941 136
24 Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator: Final Speech, 1940 137
Chapter 4 America at War, 1942-1945 140
Illustration: Chester Raymond Miller, "We're Fighting to Prevent This," 1943
The Double V Campaign 142
1 A. Philip Randolph, "The Negro and The War," Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, January 3, 1942 143
2 James G. Thompson, "Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half-American?'" Pittsburgh Courier, January 31, 1942 144
Relocating Japanese Americans 146
3 Executive Order 9102: "Establishing the War Relocation Authority," March 18, 1942 147
4 Harry Paxton Howard, "Americans in Concentration Camps," The Crisis, September 1942 148
5 Justice Frank Murphy, US Supreme Court, dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United States (1944) 152
"United We Win" 155
6 Henry Koerner, "This Is the Enemy," US Office of War Information, 1943 155
7 Lawrence Beall Smith, "Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them-Buy War Bonds," US Department of the Treasury. 1942 156
8 Howard Liberman, photographer, "United We Win," US War Manpower Commission, 1943 157
9 R. G. Harris, "Do the job HE left behind," US War Manpower Commission, 1943 158
10 Norman Rockwell, "Rosie the Riveter," Saturday Evening Post, May 29, 1943 159
11 Leon Helguera, 'Americanos Todos-Luchamos por la Victoria / Americans All-Let's Fight for Victory," US Office of War Information, 1943 160
Nazi Germany's "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" 161
12 Paul T. Culbertson, Department of State, Division of European Affairs, draft letter to Stephen S. Wise, American Jewish Congress, August 13, 1942 161
13 Samuel S. Silverman, World Jewish Congress, United Kingdom, cable to Stephen S. Wise, August 29, 1942 163
14 Associated Press, "Plan to Kill All Jews Is Revealed," Huntsville (AL) Times, November 25, 1942 164
15 William Levine, letter to President Roosevelt, December 2, 1942 165
16 Department of State press release of Allies' joint declaration against Germany's extermination of Jews, December 16, 1942 166
17 Gallup Poll on the reported number of Jews killed in Europe, January 1943 167
18 William L. Shirer, "Propaganda Front: Americans Yet to Grasp Truth of Nazi Terror," New York Herald Tribune, March 21, 1943 168
Pressure to Act 170
19 Freda Kirchwey "A Program of Inaction," Nation, June 5, 1943 171
20 Ben Hecht, "'Narrators' Pitch' Written for Washington," "We Will Never Die," April 12, 1943 173
21 Ben Hecht, "Ballad of the Doomed Jews of Europe," 1943 175
22 Associated Press, "Rabbis Urge Agency to Aid Jewish People," Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, October 7, 1943 176
A "War Refugee Board" for Rescue 178
23 Henry Morgenthau Jr., US Secretary of the Treasury, "Personal Report to the President," January 16, 1944 178
24 Executive Order 9417: "Establishing a War Refugee Board," January 22, 1944 181
25 Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day: Oswego refugee shelter offers a duration home to 982 weary Europeans," Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), September 23, 1944 183
26 Max Sipser, untitled illustration for Ontario Chronicle, August 2, 1945 185
27 Correspondence between John W. Pehle, Executive Director, War Refugee Board, and John J. McCloy, US Assistant Secretary of War, November 8 and 18, 1944 186
Witnesses to the "Final Solution" 188
28 Jan Karski, "'To Die in Agony …'," Story of a Secret State, November 1944 189
29 War Refugee Board, introduction to German Extermination Camps-Auschwitz and Birkenau, November 1944 193
30 Associated Press, "Cabinet Members Submit Report on Nazi Extermination Camps," Billings (MT) Gazette, November 26, 1944 194
31 Gallup Polls on the number of murders in Nazi concentration camps, November 1944 196
32 "Genocide," Washington Post, December 3, 1944 197
April 12, 1945 198
33 "Roosevelt Dead at Warm Springs," Washington Post, April 13, 1945 199
34 US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, telegram to General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, April 19, 1945 200
35 Edward R. Murrow, CBS Radiobroadcast from Buchenwald, April 15, 1945 201
"Victory" in Europe 203
36 Boris Artzybasheff for Time, May 7, 1945 204
37 Images from "Atrocities," Life, May 7, 1945 205
Postscript 209
The International Military Tribunal 209
The New Refugee Crisis 211
1 President Harry S. Truman, "Immigration to the United States of Certain Displaced Persons and Refugees in Europe," December 22, 1945 211
2 Gallup Poll on admitting more European refugees, December 1945 214
Acknowledgments 215
Further Reading 217
Permissions 221
Index 223
